Exterior Design – Gardening for Impact

I’m an amateur gardener. Many of you know more about gardening than I do.

But I’ve learned a few things over the years and I shared some in my previous post on affordable gardening.

This post is about creating impact.

The first thing I’ve learned is that you can create impactful garden scenes with a fairly small range of plants – if that’s your preference. At the farmhouse, we had many kinds of plants. At this new garden, we have far fewer. So we use a lot of hosta, hydrangea, ferns, and boxwood throughout our garden.

I’ve learned that structure matters. Plants of the same variety massed together in a circle or semi-circle make a strong structural statement.

When we lived at the farmhouse, a neighbour was throwing out clumps of green-and-white hosta. We gladly took some. We divided and planted them around this tree, below. They formed a lush circle in just two gardening seasons.

My husband created two circles, above – one with hosta and one with boxwood. Look closely and you’ll see a taller boxwood semi-circle too.

Boxwood is perfect for creating structure. We buy them small (aka inexpensive) and let them grow. These ones, curving along our present garden path, are now two years old and will be trimmed and shaped soon.

Contrast is another way of creating impact. The hosta and Japanese forest grasses, below — planted along another curve in the path — make a nice contrast.

Meanwhile, ligularia’s dark leaves, below, contrast well with almost anything.

It’s a backdrop for the light-green hosta. But notice the green-and-white grass, belowleft. Alone, the shape and colour of its blades would contrast nicely with the leaves of that hosta too.

Contrast can also be created using varieties of the same genus of plants. Note the different kinds of hosta used below.

While contrasts are striking, we also like the harmony that comes from repeating a single colour throughout the garden at certain times of the year.

The red blooms of bee balm, below, echo the red of the chairs.

And the white blooms of bridal wreath spirea reinforce the white-stained arbour, below.

Sticking with colour, let’s talk about single-colour gardens and borders.

The white hollyhocks and daisies (above) and Annabelle hydrangea, below, are striking when grown en masse.

Fast-growing and easy to divide, they are popular in all-white gardens. (Vita Sackville-West’s white garden at Sissinghurst in the UK is most famous, but many gardens, both private and public, have these plants in their white borders.)

Courtesy: Parkwood Estate, Oshawa, Ontario

Of course, we’ve also learned that a single plant can make a magnificent statement, as does this giant Sum and Substance hosta.

And this equally striking goatsbeard.

Size, form, texture, contrast and colour: all can make a strong impact in your garden.

Lovely gardens! I’m wondering if you have deer in your area. In the past, that was an issue in my yard with hostas, since they LOVE to eat them. The bee balm makes a great addition of color, and the spirea reminds me of my childhood home.

I like the sound of that. Today I weeded while lying flat on my front. A neighbour called that devotion to my garden, while my poor husband called it utmost stupidity and I called it a very sore back and leg!

Wonderful to see your gardens again Cynthia – your advice is great for novice gardners like myself. Love the designs of the variety of plantings and impact they make on your landscape overall. Just beautiful! We are having a tough time growing things this year because of the lack of rain and high temperatures. Happy gardening to you and your husband.

Beautiful! I love the spirea. my problem has always been lack of gardening discipline. I buy stuff because it’s on sale but doesn’t fit my garden “plan.” My goal this fall is to dig most of it up and organize. This post inspires me to do it!

I love all those cool greens from your hostas and boxwood, grasses and other perennials. Any flowers you have really stand out, like the bee balm and all the white flowers of hydrangea and daisy. A lovely informative post, Cynthia and well illustrated too.

I remember goatsbeard from back east. It grew wild ion many places. Here I have had to keep the annual summer drought in mid when selecting plants. They must also be able to cope with the winter rains, and heavy, continually wet clay soil.

Thank you for the tour of your creativity in the garden. Here, I am limited to potted things on my porches, so I especially am enjoying the luxurious beauty of your arrangement. Beautiful work, Cynthia!

Still catching up here. How many ways are there to say your garden is stunning. I have trouble with slugs eating my Hosta’s and am unwilling to use any chemical to kill the slugs. I have to find something to surround them that slugs won’t go near. Your’s are just so healthy and beautiful.

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